1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of surgical implements in general, and in particular to a surgical implement used to introduce a curved needle into the peritoneal cavity during laparoscopic surgery.
2. Description of Related Art
There is currently no specialized instrument for the introduction of a curved needle into the peritoneal cavity. Presently, such needles can be introduced through a trocar sleeve with an interior diameter larger than 11 mm. A method developed by Dr. H. Reich enables the surgeon to introduce any size curved needle into the peritoneal cavity through a 5 mm lower quadrant incision. The disadvantage of this method are that insertion of the needle into the abdominal wall, after the removal of the trocar sleeve makes, it is difficult for the surgeon to find the original incision resulting in additional damage as he attempts to follow the original path. Also, the unprotected needle damages the soft tissue through which it is traveling.
As a consequence of the foregoing situation, there has existed a longstanding need among surgeons for a new and improved device for introducing a curved laparoscopic needle into a body cavity in as non-invasive a manner as possible with full control over the positional placement of the needle within the body cavity, and the provision of such a device is a stated objective of the present invention.
Briefly stated, the laparoscopic needle introducer device that forms the basis of the present invention comprises an elongated rod unit having a needle engaging unit for receiving a curved laparoscopic needle and a handle unit for manipulating the rod unit within a body cavity and releasably engaging the needle from the needle engaging unit.
As will be explained in greater detail further on in the specification, the basic rod unit includes an elongated rod member having a proximal rod segment and a distal rod segment disposed on the opposite ends of a needle engaging unit which comprises an interior chamber formed on an intermediate portion of the rod member. The interior chamber is provided with an elongated slot dimensioned to receive a curved laparoscopic needle.
In the first version of the invention, the length of the interior chamber is fixed, and the proximal rod segment of the rod member is fixedly secured to the handle unit, which includes a handle member having a proximal end and a distal end.
However, in the second version of the invention, the rod unit comprises an elongated hollow tubular rod member having a fixed distal rod segment and a moveable proximal rod segment which define a variable length interior chamber that positively, yet releasably engages the laparoscopic needle via a spring biased arrangement that is carried on a hollow stem on the handle member and operatively connected to the proximal rod segment of the hollow tubular rod member to vary the effective length of the interior chamber.
In addition, the second version of the invention is further provided with a pair of discrete alignable apertures that are dimensioned to receive and captively engage the opposite ends of a length of surgical thread that had previously been attached to the laparoscopic needle to allow a surgeon to tie surgical knots in the length of thread in an extra corporeal fashion.
In order to accomplish this function, the discrete apertures are aligned with the slot in the elongated rod member and one of the apertures is formed in the proximal end of the elongated rod member. The other aperture is formed in the moveable proximal rod segment which is operatively connected to the spring biased arrangement on the handle member such that the apertures can be moved into and out of alignment with one another to captively engage and release the opposite ends of the surgical thread.